


Thoughts on the Future Pasts

by hithelleth



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Introspection, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 16:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14524332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hithelleth/pseuds/hithelleth
Summary: The future is a lot of things, although certainly not as glorious as Nicholas Keynes had hoped for, but it does have some interesting potential.





	Thoughts on the Future Pasts

The future is... confusing.

Not as glamorous or glorious as he had hoped for.

There has been apparently considerable technological progress made. Still, music doesn’t sound right, most of the food tastes off, and many luxuries from the past he was used to seem to have been either lost or replaced with less than adequate substitutes.

Some inventions have been rather impressive, of course, such as all those electronic devices. And fast food. Fast food!

All those things that have made life easier than he could have ever imagined.

On the other hand, people have found new ways of torturing themselves, such as that exertion machine his granddaughter imposes on him as beneficial for his health.

Which brings him to the disappointment that his descendants are.

He supposes he has his own absence to blame for it; his daughter had to grow up without his proper guidance.

At least Carol managed to save his life in the Great War.

Even though she is oversentimental and cannot be trusted to deal with the black sheep that is his great-granddaughter. Bad seed, indeed. One that he cannot allow to remain a blemish on his legacy.

Fortunately, he is here to fix things.

They think he is an idiot, out of place, out of his time, out of his depth, only indulging him and his old-time ways.

_Let them._

He can play a fool while watching and learning. They will dance to his tune soon enough.

Lucy and her pesky riff-raff thwarting Rittenhouse’s efforts are going to be dealt with.

He will let Carol be, as long as she remembers her place and does not do something as stupid as getting in his way – after all, she is his own blood, and he is not a monster. And, he supposes, he does owe her some gratitude.

(Sometimes he has nightmares of dying in the trenches, of never seeing this – albeit less-than-perfect – future, of never learning his time travel theory was proved right.)

(But he is not dead.)

The future, he is certain, is one of success where he will be the one to lead Rittenhouse right back on track to recreate the world as they envision.  

(He could go back. To his family. See his daughter again. Raise her right.)

He won’t go back. All the things he could do better in the past with the knowledge of the future he can do still better now. And the past already cannot compare to the reality of the future – the present – and even less to the potential of what it could be, which only time will tell.

(And if what time brings doesn’t agree with Rittenhouse, everything can be altered. Again. And again. And again. To perfection.)

No. He cannot imagine returning to the past, for all its finer points, to die in squalor before they even invent the Internet (although he still does not quite grasp the mechanics of it.)

Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

The future, however, might have some compensation for him. Perhaps in the form of the freckled redhead.

Emma Whitmore.

So eager to please.

(And he is not at all opposed to let her show all the ways she could please him.)

Despite the deplorable habit of wearing trousers that has come into fashion, she is one fine woman.

Useful, too.

Enough at least that he can tolerate the annoying notions of ambition (although that serves him just fine, for now) and independence she must have in her head as women in these times do.

(He supposes those notions can be dissuaded from with time and proper incentive if necessary.)

Yes, the future does have some intriguing potential yet.

**Author's Note:**

> I started this after 2x04, but I only had the time and energy to finish it now, so the developments of the latest two episodes are not included. I might or might not add to it at some later point.
> 
> Comments are always welcome!


End file.
